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Well I've just found out about 2 weeks ago that I am HIV Positive. I know its not the end of the world but I am very afraid. I'm a 26 year old Black Man living in Ohio and I feel so alone. Well I just got out the hospital on last Wed. which was the 21st. I was admitted on the 19th after they said my PCP had gotten worse. Well I found out that my CD4 count is below 20 and that is soooooo scary. I had thrush really bad last month when I got sick with the PCP the first time. They give me some pills and the the thrush was gone in like 2 days. They gave me a Z-Pack for my upper resp. infection. I felt good for about 2 weeks and then the PCP hit me. A lot of stuff is going thru my head right now. I know that I can get better and I know that it takes time but I'm just worried about my CD4 count. Since everything has happened so fast I have yet to see my HIV doctor. The appointment is on the 29th of this month which is Thursday. I did have my first meeting but it was just with the nurse and they drew so much blood. But between then and now I've had PCP. I'm still on my medication fo my PCP. I'm on 2 antiboics and a Prednisone. I'm just really worried that I won't have time to get my CD4 count up. I feel fine. I'm eatting like a pig which I guess is a good thing. I lost alot of weight in my legs. My face is still healthy looking but I lost about 10 to 15 pounds overall body wise. I do wanna work out but people say that my CD4 count will get lower. I can't let it get lower any lower than where it is now. I'm quite sure I won't be on any HIV meds untill my PCP is cleared up some more so what can I do to not get sick and help boost my immune system? I drink a Boost everyday, sometimes 2. I eat alot of fruit and I drink lots of water, cranberry juice and orange juice. I go back to work on Monday and I work in fast food so I'm a little nervous. I know I'm just rambling right now so I'll wait to get some feedback from you guys and girls. Thanks for listening.

Welcome to the forums. You do have a lot going on and you are not the first to end up in the hospital with low numbers and PCP. Since they took so much blood you will hopefully have some test results to discuss with the DR when you go in on the 29th. It is true you need to get the PCP under controll and be prepared to be given a prescription for some HIV meds to start on at a later date. If you have insurance at work and a prescription plan then you may be OK in that regard. Either way, insured or not, seek out your local ASO (AIDS Service Organization) and get an appointment with a case worker that can plug you into to what is available to you in your area and possibly help with drug assistance and what not.

When you talk to your DR on the 29th ask for information too as they must have an idea of who you can contact since you aren't the first case if this they have seen. Look for local support groups on the web in Ohio. There must be some there somewhere. Most have Yahoo groups so search there to see if you can join a local group to ask questions.

Others will be along here to give you more suggestions so be patient and get as much information as you can as to what you can do for yourself locally. It is important to take control of this virus with resources and information. Do not let it control you.

You will need to begin a HAART regimen to restore your CD4 count. You are correct, it will take some time.

Before prescribing a regimen, the doctor will need to run some tests, including a genotype resistance test, to see what drugs will be effective. Hopefully he will have the results on the 29th and you can begin drug therapy then. As far as I know, you can begin HAART while still being treated for PCP.

In the meantime, try to eat well and get enough rest, and continue with the antibiotics. I think that you will have to take them for quite awhile to prevent a recurrence of PCP.

Good luck. You just need to be patient for now. The drugs are very good at suppressing HIV, and then you should see an increase in CD4, although it can take a couple of years to recover from such a low level.

Thanks for the feedback guys. I do have a few questions. Is it ok to workout? I wanna gain about 10 to 15 pounds by July but I read that my CD4 count can get lower. Also what is a HAART regimen? And yes I have to be on the PCP meds for 21 days. I'm just ready to start raising my CD4 count. I'm very scared that I won't be able to get it back up.

Working out should not be a problem as long as you feel up to it. Don't over exert yourself and you should be fine.

HAART stands for highly active antiretroviral therapy. It is the combination of at least three drugs that attack different parts of HIV or stop the virus from entering blood cells. In a lot of cases DR's are prescribing Atripla which contains a combination of three drugs. It depends on the person though and whether you are resistant to any of those drugs. Ask the DR if a genotype test was done and if so what drugs you might already be resistant too.

As was previously said it may take a while to get your numbers to start going up. Everyone is different.

HAART is highly active anti-retroviral therapy, or something similar, and refers to the HIV medication "cocktail" that you will be prescribed. There is a wide variety of drugs available, and your cocktail will depend on any resistances you may have, as well as certain other factors such as liver and kidney condition and cholesterol level.

I don't know about working out, but you want to be careful to not wear yourself out. CD4 count will recover as the virus is suppressed. Others here have recovered from levels just as low as yours. It just takes time.

Be careful with "eating like a pig" in your quest to put on weight. Slapping on 15 pounds of fat is going to do more harm than good in the long run, and it won't be as aesthetically pleasing in the short term. Try to get plenty of lean protein, vegetables (potatoes are a starch, not a veggie) and whole grains while avoiding sweets and fried and fatty foods. That may be tough working in fast food, but it will serve you well.

Thanks alot you guys. I do alot of walking so hopefully that helps. Also BlueMoom I got your message but I have no way of responding. I have no idea how to reply or send you a message. I'm in Cincinnati actually but I can use some support. If you could send me another message with your email addy this time so we can talk. Thanks alot guys.

Also I read that the "tripler" has alot of side effects. I know its different strokes for different folks but I'm just concerned that since my CD4 count is soooo low that I might have extreme side effects. Also should I worry about wasting when taking this drug?

Be careful with "eating like a pig" in your quest to put on weight. Slapping on 15 pounds of fat is going to do more harm than good in the long run, and it won't be as aesthetically pleasing in the short term. Try to get plenty of lean protein, vegetables (potatoes are a starch, not a veggie) and whole grains while avoiding sweets and fried and fatty foods. That may be tough working in fast food, but it will serve you well.

Best,David

Thanks for the reply. I think the only reason I'm eatting like a big is because of the steriods that I'm on right now. Also my weakness are potatoes!! I just put some pork chops in the oven for lunch but I'm eat green beans and mac and cheese. Also what about Protien Shakes. I had bought some Weight Gainer right before I got the PCP because I've also been around the 135-140 pounds most of my life and my goal is 150 but got sick so stop taking it. I'm wondering should I just do protien.

Welcome! I'm glad you found your way here when you needed it. You're dealing with a lot right now. It's very understandable that you feel scared and are wondering what the heck you should be doing. But gradually things will get better under the regular care of your doctor and taking the necessary steps to get you well again and keeping you healthy.

Establishing a good working partnership with your doctor is one of the best tools you will have to stay healthy. And little by little you'll learn everything you need to know about living with HIV. It's all very new now + you're dealing with active health problems. But gradually things are going to begin to fall into place. You'll see that life is going to go on and that you'll be able to get on with the things you enjoy doing. Good nutrition, appropriate exercise, enough sleep and all that good stuff will be good for you.

You're always welcome here to ask questions and to talk about anything that's on your mind.

Bruce are you going to be going to the Holmes Clinic at UCMC? I go there and have Dr. Hagland. There are a lot of great ID doctors there. They know their shit. Make sure you make a list of all the questions you would like to ask. They'll throw a ton of information at you at one time so don't be alarmed if you don't remember half of it. It will all be repeated again down the road.

I was in the hospital with PCP like you. Had pretty awful thrush too. It was two years ago -- CD 4 of 40, so I know where you are coming from. My story is in my bio (click on anyone's name/avatar and you will see any bio and other info) and you can see from the sig line below that now, two years later, I'm feeling pretty good.

Pneumonia is pretty tricky and comes back easily if you don't take care of yourself so you don't want to overexert. If I were in your shoes I'd hold off on restarting the workout routine until after you have a discussion with your doctor about it -- after all its only a few days. In fact, you might want to add questions about when to start and at what levels to that list of questions you are keeping. Speaking about the list, my doctor was willing for me to fax my (5 page) list over in advance, so you might want to check in with the nurse and see if that's an option -- but things do get lost sometimes, so you might want to have a copy with you as well.

I'd also echo Redhot's advice -- I remember being so nervous about how much weight I lost in the hospital that I purposely loaded up on the calories -- well the regular weight came back and I'm still working on getting rid of the pounds I packed back on in a hurry.

Finally, it's great that you have got all this stuff set up and are looking ahead to the doctor, a workout routine etc. But you may want to slow down a little and make sure you are taking care of the basics of adequate rest, healthy food and not overdoing. Not to scare you unduly, but the year after getting an AIDS diagnosis is when a lot of people don't make it. Right now your body doesn't have a lot of natural defenses -- you need to focus on getting the virus under control (through HAART) which will allow your body defenses (CD 4's) to rebuild. Once that's firmly under way most folks live a pretty normal life these days -- but until you get on HAART and it has a chance to start working, you want to be absolutely careful about your health and any risks to it.

You certainly are going through quite a lot right now. Believe me,. I've been there, I understand completely what your going through. I was also on a couple of different antibiotics ( Zithromaz and Dapsone, along with a few weeks of prednisone, back in October of 2003. That is also when I had 16 t-cells, and a viral load over 500,000. This was also 17 plus years into HIV infection. I also had pneumonia and was hospitalised for a 24 hour period. I had bacterial pneumonia as a result from the candida( thrush) infection that I had, about a month prior.It Managed to get to my lungs. It wiped me out for a while. Also managed to loose about 30 pounds of weight. Everything I ate, fely like I was chewing glass !

Like yourself, I also drank one to two boost a day, and I contribute the prednisone, to the reason I was eating like a pig . But I really needed to get some nutrition, sounds the same for you. .

Eat what you can, try to eat nutritiously,... try to rest as much as possible, My advice is to make sure to get at least 8 hours of sleep a day and continue with the fluids. Make sure to continue to take you current medication on time and as prescribed. Don't miss or skip doses.

I know things are things are tough right now, but try not to stress out. Things should start improving for you. If you feel , that you are not ready to go back to work Monday, my advice would be to take a couple of days off. Get a note from your doctor if need be, so everything is covered. I went back to work the day after I was released from the hospital, and on all the antibiotics. I have to tell you, it was tough. Depends a lot on the workload.

Also, don't be surprised, if the doctor may talk to you this Thursday, about getting started on an antiretroviral therapy.(HAART) The doctor should hopefully have those results of the blood test done.

If it is possible to get that appointment moved up a couple days, try and do that. Ask them if there are any openings,( cancellations) if they could possibly see you sooner.

Hang in there, It sounds as though you are doing everything you can to take care of yourself, be patient though, things will take a little time ------Ray

Thank you all so much. My problem is I want to do so much and I know I have to slow down. I've always been a person on the move and I've never been a person to just hang in the bed all day. Well today I basically rested. I got around 7, ate some junk food, took my meds, shaked and baked some pork chops for lunch which aound noon. Worked out just a tiny bit. Then I laid down finally around 4pm. So I've been moving all day which I know isn't the best thing. Plus this prednisone has me getting up eatting every 20 mins. I'm actually hungry now. LOL. But since I return to work tommorrow from being off for a whole week I think I will just rest for the rest of the day. I thank you all for the touching post because they have helped me and scared me str8 also..LOL. I actually have a very positive attitude and hopefully it stays that way after the 29th when I get the REAL news. Question, did any of you have to take off when starting your HAART meds? Hopefully I don't. I know its a broad question but I would like to know.

Question, did any of you have to take off when starting your HAART meds? Hopefully I don't. I know its a broad question but I would like to know.

I did take about three days , but I probably didn't really need to. At least with the meds I was started on. I still work full time, and haven't missed more than 3 days of work, these past 4 and a half years.

Yup it'll do that to ya. I had to take ENORMOUS doses of it back at the end of 2006. I could have quite happily eaten a camel, hump and all.

Prednisone can have some other nasty long term side effects as well. If you're on it for an extended period (and people usually are) you might want to talk to your doctor about osteoporosis.

MtD

Yes I've been on Predisone before. My hands used to shake and I got thrush. Plus I had very bad mood changes. I already notice the shaking in my hands so that makes me nervous. I'll be on it for another 15 days but winging off of it at the same time. I will have ask for some swish and swallow on thursday when I see the Doc.

I did take about three days , but I probably didn't really need to. At least with the meds I was started on. I still work full time, and haven't missed more than 3 days of work, these past 4 and a half years.

Ray

My thing is I don't wanna take off of work again. I might just start on a weekend and hopefully but the time Monday gets here my side effects, if any, won't be so bad.

It crushes your CD4 cells and that would explain why your count is so low. When you cease the pred, your CD4 count will most likely bounce back a fair bit.

You might want to enquire about a drug called fluconazole to treat the candida.

MtD

Thanks. I no longer have thrush but Fluconazole is what they gave me when I went into the doctor's last week. It cleared it up quick! I'm just worried that the Predisone might bring it back since I've been on Predisone before and got it. This was like 3 years ago when I got my Crohn's news. But I do eat a thing of yogart a day. I heard that helps fight it.

My thing is I don't wanna take off of work again. I might just start on a weekend and hopefully but the time Monday gets here my side effects, if any, won't be so bad.

Hey B WYou know, people where you work are probably pretty worried about you right now, and you don't need to push yourself too hard to prove yourself to them. At this point, they'd probably rather you got well and will be willing to make reasonable accommodations. They've seen you out for a week and hospitalized -- that's a signal to them that this is serious stuff and that you aren't just malingering. And if you are worried about how they are doing without you . . . well they'll have to do without you longer if you work yourself into another round of pneumonia.

I had three rounds of pneumonia and I dashed back to work as soon as possible after each of the first two -- for the third I was off work for two months; and one of those months came with my very own personal full time oxygen machine. You shouldn't read this as a prediction; everyone is different after all -- for starters, you are half my age and probably lots stronger. But the period when you get pneumonia until some time on effective HAART is probably the frailest you are going to be for the next 2 to 5 decades. It's not just what you have right now, but also that your immune system is very susceptible to any other illness that might come along. To put it in "technical" terms, you are "one sick puppy". So try to chill out a little about work and PLEASE give yourself permission to take care of yourself first now.

Bruce I've seen Dr. Grubbs there but I've never had any dealings with him. Like I said they are all good. Let me know if you need directions into the clinic. Make sure you go to registration before going up to the clinic. It only takes 15 minutes at registration and you only have to go their once a year.

Thanks for the Info. I've done all that so I'm just waiting to get my results on the 29th. I know my CD4 count so I need my VL and other stuff I guess. LOL. Its been really helpful talking to you guys. Wish me luck at work. Gotta be there at 11am. Its fast food and I'm a cashier so I won't be doing any stressful work thank God. LOL

Hello Everyone. ...I know I'm just rambling right now so I'll wait to get some feedback from you guys and girls. Thanks for listening.

Hey Torey! Here's my take after reading all the suggestions, questions, and back and forth. You're smart and motivated and you don't ramble at all. Before you know it, you'll be helping others here.

If Rapid Rod endorses your choice of medical care providers, that means a lot. I'd add "have a piece of folded paper" to Andy's "have a pen" handy before and during any meetings with medical staff. I organize my thoughts and questions like a very brief outline, sometimes just minutes before a doctor's appointment. The point isn't to write a book but cover all your topics (I jot down one sentence answers too). It'll impress a good MD or nurse (and piss off a shitty one!).

Please do rest enough to complete recovery from the pneumonia. I had it for many weeks. It's no fun. Killing off the pneumonia will do more for your physique than protein shakes and even weights. Get strong internally first, then stronger at the gym when you're good and ready. 20 CD4 is not good but it's also not the lowest I've seen by a long shot. I've had a friend who averaged only 4 CD4 count for years. Not only is he here, but his count is up and amazingly, his Viral Load is low/ undetectable for the first time in as long as 2 decades since starting a regimen (clinical trial) about a year back that includes Insentress (I take it too, as part of my 3 drug therapy). I could give you resistance training (including isometrics) tips by Private Message when you're ready. Good Health! -megasept